It’s very well known that I’m a massive fan of the classic Sonic the Hedgehog games — it may well be my favorite game series ever, at least in its original, pre-Dreamcast era form. Sonic 1, 2, 3, & Knuckles are just plain gaming perfection to me.
Naturally, you can imagine how excited I was for the concept of Sonic Origins when it was announced — a collection of the games I love enhanced? What’s not to like?
Well, as it would turn out, plenty. This project is based mostly on existing enhanced ports of Sonic 1, 2, and CD, which are all fine — welcome additions to the console world, and a new port of Sonic 3 and Knuckles based on the same engine powering those previously mentioned ports. Again, nothing I would intrinsically complain about, as in my experience those ports were fine. This is also the same group who made the amazing piece of work that was Sonic Mania, veterans of the Sonic modding scene and core fanbase — I expect nothing but the best from them, within their abilities working under Sega.
That’s where the problem is. Well, part of it, anyway — Sega apparently made Origins a bit of a crunch / rush job (because they would of course have to be just like every other game company out there these days) and the product is considered, by the team who created it, to not be representative of their work.
I’m not too sure on the details, as even for gaming news that I’m interested in I don’t look very deep (I’ve got other things I’d rather do) but I’d imagine if they aren’t happy with what was actually shipped them there are at least some relatively glaring issues present.
That’s only part of the problem — I could accept a game that has a few issues but is mostly solid, as I’d imagine this is. The other problem comes with what I have begun to call the Sonic 3 curse — the music.
As is well known, there’s the perpetual issue of Michael Jackson being involved in the music of Sonic 3. This has been discussed here on Xadara before, but has since recently been verified by Yuji Naka to have been something that actually happened. This reminds me, I should do a follow up to that MJ in Sonic 3 music article.
Whatever the case, the music exists in the game as released for the Sega Genesis, and thus in every emulated port of the games since 1994. Where the music doesn’t exist, however, is in the PC release Sonic & Knuckles Collection, which instead used alternate tracks for Carnival Night, Ice Cap, and Launch Base Zones. These tracks are also used in Sonic Origins, and were recently (in 2019) discovered to have been the original planned music for those levels in Sonic 3 before MJ’s involvement.
Those tracks heavily make the experience of Sonic 3 what it is — Ice Cap Zone has been, since I was 9, one of my favorite musical pieces ever, and to think that a major sonic release would not contain it, or its sister tracks, is insane to me.
Of course, it’s all an issue to do with rights — an interesting oddity that a re-release of the Genesis software can keep those tracks, but any re-created version of the game, be it on PC back in 97 or this year on the Xbox and PlayStation, cannot use those tracks. Especially odd considering that Brad Buxer was clearly the man behind what would become Ice Cap Zone, as opposed to MJ directly — see “Hard Times” by the Jetzonz.
For all the improvements Sonic Origins may have, this kind of kills my drive to purchase the game, especially at the asking price of, if memory serves, $40. It just won’t feel right playing through those much beloved levels with things changed. Sure, it’s only 3 zones in the game, but still — it’s something I’ll always notice and will never like.
Maybe down the line the rights can be gained again and the game patched to include the original tracks. Maybe someone will release a mod that puts them back. Who knows. Whatever case, the music and the “crunch” the game was produced under make me feel a bit iffy on making the purchase just yet. I’ll just have to dwell on it some.
